Iran News Round Up

Head of the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards, Commander Mohammad-Reza Zahedi says that 600 “Imam Hussein units” will start operations in urban centers all over the country. According to Zahedi the units will counter “the extreme security situation of the country” and “train the Basij.” More.

Tabnak claims British MI6 is engaged in “activities against the Revolutionary Guards” in northern Iraq. Tabnak also claims MI6 has recruited “oppositionists” in order to gather information on the Revolutionary Guards. The news agency claims the headquarters of this organization is located at a hotel between Erbil and Masif Salah al-Din.

Religion, Culture, and Society

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Speaking to members of the Basij, IRGC chief says ”The threats against the Islamic Republic are not only military, but also cultural.” More.

Head of the school books department at the ministry of education: “The culture of martyrdom and self sacrifice is being propagated in the school books.”

Esfandiayr Rahim-Mashayee, advisor to Ahmadinejad, says a special task force will be formed to preserve the memory of the “Sacred Defense,” [the Iran-Iraq war].

Iranian film maker Majidi attacks Abdol-Karim Soroush’s claim that the Quran is the result of the ”poetic and artistic production of the Prophet and not a divine revelation.”

Majid Doust-Ali, Ahmadinejad’s cabinet secretary, delivering a speech in Qom: “Despite the intimidations of the enemy and the whispering of mercenary elements in spreading such intimidations [reference to the domestic critics of the Ahmadinejad government], Ahmadinejad did not hesitate to bring Iran to the brink of nuclearization, in order to invite everyone to the nuclear feast table of Iran.”

Ahmadinejad visits the city of Shalamche, decimated during the Iran-Iraq War.

Politics: March 2008 Parliamentary Elections

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Mostafa Tajzadeh, the head of the Election Headquarters of the reformist Mosharekat [Participation] Front, warns against Revolutionary Guards intervention in politics in the Islamic Republic: “If the people of Iran desire to save the Islamic Revolution from the destiny of the Constitutional Revolution, when armed forces sacrificed the ideals and aspirations [of the people] to promote their own inclinations and interests – they [the people] should act against the declarations of the armed forces. In this way, the nation can expel them from the scene in order to maintain the uniformity of the armed forces, in order to preserve the military capacities of the armed forces, and in order to maintain unanimous popular support for them at the hour of need.”

Rafanjani, chairman of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts, criticizes disqualification of reformist candidates: “Such acts disturb the national unity…If the enemy sees us united their provocations would lessen.”

Khatami era vice president Abtahi says the reformist camp is ”total disorder” prior to parliamentary elections, and many candidates are still considering their candidacy.

Former president Khatami: “We defend the regime; one must not show negative reactions to our criticism of the regime.” Adds: “They have made a lot of conspiracies which will be neutralized by the active presence of the people at the parliamentary elections.”

Visiting the Sudan, Iran’s Defense Minister calls Sudan the resting point of the African policies of the Islamic Republic.

Ahmadinejad: “They [the Americans] will not allow Obama to become president.”

Parliamentary candidate Mohammd Sadr: “Israel declares some of Ahmadinejad’s acts are beneficial to Israel… In order to attract foreign direct investments we need to abstain from adventurous foreign policy… Ahmadinejad’s trip and participation in the GCC summit was a mistake…”

Tabnak says the U.S. delegation cancelled meeting with the Iranian delegation in Iraq.

Shi’ite sources of emulation Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani, Grand Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani, Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili, and Grand Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani ask the Iranian minister of culture and Islamic propagation to severe relations with Denmark and the Netherlands because of “insults against the prophet of Islam.” Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi claims the “insults” are not the work of only one Danish newspaper, but part of a “premeditated conspiracy,” and explains: “Since they [the Europeans] are not able of proving Islam wrong, and since they fear the expansion of Islam, they do such ignorant deeds in anger.” Golpayegani said the publication of the Danish cartoons were a reaction to “the ever growing strength of Islam.” Hamedani described Denmark as the “sworn enemy of Islam” and stressed the necessity of ”taking the lead in reacting against Denmark as Iran took the lead against the heretic Salman Rushdie.” Grand Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani urged the Muslims to “rise in a show of anger against the infidels” in a reaction against what he called “Islamophobia.”

Michael Rubin
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Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Civil-Military Relations, and a senior editor of the Middle East ...

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